Loose Pass: Bring on the ‘light-hearted trolling’ and why British & Irish Lions omission should take ‘quick winter break’ in Australia
The British and Irish Lions received a littler banter ahead of facing Western Force.
This week we will mostly be concerning ourselves with trash talk and some standouts from the weekend…
It begins
Surely we would have expected this? A Lions squad with – to significantly varying degrees – eight Lions with fair chunks of southern hemisphere ancestry or heritage being subject to a little extra banter in Australia.
That’s Australia, whose cricketers are by some distance the best sledgers in the world. Australia, whose rugby fans kept up a medium-level palaver outside the England team’s hotel all night before the 2003 World Cup Final and whose press relentlessly wrote off that English team as too old, too slow, too boring. Australia, whose home-grown coaches have a significant history of waspish characters ready to compete until the end at every level of banter (not just Eddie Jones, but also Michael Cheika and John Connolly and so on). Australia, scene of some of the most infamous scraps and scuffles of Lions history.
But also Australia, whose rugby fans, generally, are very, very good at packing up the provocation at the final whistle and enjoying a few good laughs. Australia, whose paper fulfilled its pledge and ran a full-page apology for ‘Pom-bashing’ in the wake of the 2003 World Cup, and Australia, whose team’s performance in this series will go a long way to defining its current troubled era.
If a little light-hearted trolling from a stadium announcer makes the fans happy, let them at it. In fact, bring it on! In an era of online anonymous threats, deeply personal insults and attacks on wives and children who have nothing to do with the game beyond being in the family of one of the protagonists, stuff like this is a nice break from the real problem. And any Lions fans up in arms could quite reasonably point out that Australia has quite a few ‘Island Wallabies’ and even a couple of ‘Kiwibies’, not to mention a ‘spaghetti’ Wallaby in Tom Lynagh, whose claim to Australian citizenship is exactly the same as Mack Hansen’s is to being Irish.
The debate about actual eligibility and residency is for a different room; it’s certainly not going to change anything about this series, so have it later if you need to. But if this is the level of banter: great. Enjoy it. It’ll be refreshing to have the focus on stadium announcers poking fun at the geographical irony of a certain situation rather than sympathising with a player or official whose family has cancer wished upon it, won’t it?
Finn Russell leads a trio of weekend standouts
There’s probably only misfortune now between Finn Russell and that red jersey in 17 days’ time. The Scot, historically often the subject of frustrated criticism for perceived maverick play or struggles to impose himself on games, delivered a magnificent performance on Saturday, refining the art of leaving the decision to the final millisecond before releasing a millimetre-perfect pass or kick to exploit milli-gaps in the opposing line.
Errors did come, but so precise was Russell’s general timing and passing that it felt and sometimes looked more appropriate to see the errors as emanating from the runners and supporters than from the pivot. It’ll be interesting to see how well he combines with Jamison Gibson-Park; the Williams-Russell Axis looked like a Test pairing in the making.
In France, Thomas Ramos yet again showed why he ought to be considered for World Rugby Player of the Year more; it beggar’s belief that he has not even yet once cracked the shortlist.
With Romain Ntamack injured, Ramos stepped up with a flawless kicking and steering performance, not least with the limbs flagging and oxygen in the system all but run out, to bring Toulouse home in the Top 14 Final. He has done it for club and country regularly over the past four or five years. Too little credit is bestowed on one of the games most diligent and ice-cool players.
And then there’s Jack Willis. One of those career stories which future generations might look back on and wonder about the folly of all these idiosyncratic and protectionist international selection policies, the hodge-podgedness of the current calendar, and the varying appreciations of different positional facets.
Your correspondent was not alone on social media on Saturday night wondering why Willis is not currently nursing jet-lag in a Brisbane hotel with Blair Kinghorn; as many opined during those exchanges, the fact he’s not played Test rugby for a few years is surely what counts against him.
Hopefully he keeps fit. Hopefully also he thinks a quick winter break in Australia for no readily apparent reason might be a good idea. As shown by the sudden, desperately unfortunate injury to Tomos Williams, a Lions tour can be impacted, sometimes even defined by injuries to tourists and the performances of those brought in to replace them.
